what comes off of the moon
will soon be an anchor
for me to wrap my arms around

blue and blue and blue #129

my wish is to be
counted as one acre
of the ocean’s crop

Author’s Statement on Beauty

My son spilled grape pop at dinner tonight. As he is four, and full of wonder I let him watch the purple suds sneak out of the glass bottle for a moment before I rushed to get the paper towels. He was enthralled with the smell that took over the room, with the way it appeared at first to soak into the table, and with the subtle sound it still made before I cleaned it up. As I soaped it up, cleaned it, dried it, and repositioned out plates to continue eating, he said, “That was so cool.” It strikes me that I write poetry the same way my four-year-old boy drinks grape pop. I love the taste of it, the mess of it, the attempt to control it, and once it’s done I love to talk about it all happened. I have other, bigger picture thoughts on poetry, but right now I’m enjoying the delightfulness of this idea.

Darren C. Demaree is the author of five poetry collections, most recently Many Full Hands Applauding Inelegantly (2016, 8th House Publishing). He is the Managing Editor of the Best of the Net Anthology and Ovenbird Poetry. He is currently living in Columbus, Ohio with his wife and children.